War crime

UN says peacekeepers remain in Lebanon despite attacks that "may constitute a war crime"

From CNN’s Richard Roth and Nadeen Ebrahim

United Nations peacekeepers “remain in all positions” in Lebanon despite recent attacks that injured peacekeeping forces, Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said Sunday.

“Despite attacks that have hit United Nations positions, injuring a number of peacekeepers in the past several days, UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) peacekeepers remain in all positions and the UN flag continues to fly,” Dujarric said.

He said that “attacks against peacekeepers are in breach of international law” and “may constitute a war crime.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Sunday that UN peacekeeping forces in Lebanon are in “harm’s way,” calling on Guterres to get them out. “It should be done right now, immediately,” he said.

Concern is growing for the safety of UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, some of whom were injured when their positions came under Israeli fire in recent days. Israel’s military has accused Hezbollah of operating in areas near UNIFIL posts.

On Sunday, UN peacekeepers in Lebanon said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) breached one of its positions in southern Lebanon in violation of international law. The IDF later said one of its tanks backed into a post belonging to UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon as it was evacuating soldiers wounded by an anti-tank missile.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Sunday said the EU “condemns all attacks against UN missions,” and “expresses particularly grave concern regarding the attacks by the Israeli Defense Forces” against UNIFIL.

The attacks “constitute a grave violation of international law and are totally unacceptable,” Borrell said, adding that they “must stop immediately.”